It is well known in motor vehicles to restrain an occupant in the seat by a lap belt disposed across the lap and a shoulder belt disposed diagonally across the chest. It is also known to connect the outboard belt ends to the door so that the belt is automatically moved between a restraining position about the occupant and a stowed position outwardly and forwardly of the seat in response to movement of the door between open and closed positions.
It also has been recognized that passive seat belt systems are further improved by moving the outboard belt ends forwardly and/or upwardly upon opening movement of the door to facilitate ingress or egress.
There are also patents which recognize the advantage of moving the inboard end of the lap belt upwardly and forwardly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,239 issued to Coenen Sept. 3, 1974 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,248,636 both provide a track which extends longitudinally of the vehicle body inboard the occupant seat for moving a belt carriage forward and rearward to move the inboard belt portion forwardly upon opening movement of the door. Coenen provides a locking retractor at the rearward end of the track for fixing the belt length to thereby retain the belts in the rearward restraining position. The German Offenlegungsschrift provides a latch acting between the carriage and the track to retain the carriage in the rearward restraining position.